quecholli

[idiez at mac.com]

A coleague of mine recently asked if I could provide any information
about the word "quecholli". She saw it referred to in a Classical text
as a bright red spoon-billed crane. I asked some friends of mine from
the Huasteca about the word, and they said that "quecholli"> "noquechol
", is the "campanita ", the little thing hanging down from the back of
the roof of the mouth. When children get a sore throat, they say
"huetztoc iquechol ", "his or her campanita is fallen ". An elder woman
sticks her finger down the child's throat to manipulate the campanita,
and this helps to cure the sickness.
	Does anybody know how these two meanings of "quecholli " relate? Or is
there a glottal stop or long vowel distinction?

John Sullivan, Ph.D.
Instituto de Docencia e Investigación Etnológica de Zacatecas, A.C.
Francisco García Salinas 604
Colonia CNOP
Zacatecas, Zac. 98053
México
+52 (492) 768-6048
idiez at mac.com
www.idiez.org.mx